Weddle: Offseason moves ‘lit a fire’ under Flacco

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco has appeared inspired this offseason in the view of teammate Eric Weddle.

“He’s obviously been challenged,” the safety said Wednesday, via ESPN.com. “Drafting Lamar (Jackson) and bringing (Robert) Griffin in, it’s lit a fire under (Flacco). You can tell. It has shown.”

Flacco’s physical appearance has trimmed into shape and he appears more engaged with the wide receivers prior to and after drills, per the report.

The 33-year-old Flacco is coming off a subpar season in which he dealt with a balky back. He threw for 3,141 yards with 18 touchdowns against 13 interceptions while posting a career-worst 5.7 yards per attempt.

Flacco guided the Ravens to a Super Bowl championship following the 2012 season and is entering his 11th campaign.

“When you pick a quarterback or anybody in the first round, it means something,” Flacco said last month, on the Ravens selecting Jackson with the 32nd overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft.

Jackson, who is the 2016 Heisman Trophy winner, offers a much more dynamic skill set than Flacco. He passed for more than 3,500 yards and rushed for more than 1,500 in each of the final two college seasons with Louisville.

Griffin, who was selected one pick behind Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts, was named the 2012 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. He spent four seasons in Washington, but his career-high totals in both passing touchdowns (20) and rushing scores (seven) came during his rookie season.

The 28-year-old Griffin completed 59.2 percent of his passes with two touchdowns and three interceptions in five games during the 2016 season with the Cleveland Browns. He did not play in 2017.